Offtrack: Thanjavur: Buried Memories

Centuries of Deccan heritage lie neglected beneath a nondescript countryside.

Once educated about the true wotrth of the relics, villagers may prove better protectors of the historical ststues than the authorities.

Once educated about the true wotrth of the relics, villagers may prove better protectors of the historical ststues than the authorities.

Spotting a stone culvert by the roadside, Kuduvayil Balasubramaniam says, "Look at this." Excitedly, he explains, "See the details of the carving? This must be a cornerstone from some palace or temple wall. Over time some peasants must have picked it up and used it to build this culvert." And as one ventures further into the verdant countryside, some 12 km from Thanjavur town on the banks of the river Vettaru, one cannot miss the plethora of relics dotting the land. Relics dating to the Pallava dynasty of the 8th to 10th century A.D. They lie scattered over a radius of some 10 km, in fields of paddy, under groves of coconut palms, by the roadside, submerged under ponds. A thousand lingams, an assortment of gods and goddesses -- some small, some big -- sprouting out of the earth, as it were. A few have been retrieved by local farmers and installed in temple courtyards, a couple lie outside the collectorate in Thanjavur, some have even reached museums in America and Europe, and scores pilfered by passing antique dealers.

According to Balasubramaniam, an expert in ancient Tamil and Grantha scripts who works in the Saraswathi Mahal library in Thanjavur, these open fields and groves in and around the villages of Kandiyur and Veerasingham Pettai are the site where an entire Pallava city by the name of Nandipuram lies buried. He first came across a mention of Nandipuram while interpreting the stone inscriptions in the Kandiyur temple for a project he was doing for the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). "Then I found another mention of it in a copper edict," he says, "so I decided to investigate the area and when I talked to the farmers who live there they led me to hundreds of Shivalingams and other statues scattered all over their fields."

Built as the capital of the Pallava ruler Nandivarman II in 730 A.D., Nandipuram, the inscriptions told Balasubramaniam, was an important centre of power and worship for close to 600 years through the successive rules of three major Tamil dynasties -- the Pallavas, Cholas and Pandiyas. "Although Nandipuram's significance started waning after 850 A.D. when the Cholas captured Thanjavur, it was finally abandoned only after its siege and plunder and sacking by Allauddin Khilji's general Malik Kafur in 1310," corroborates R. Nagaswami, historian and head of INTACH's Tamil Nadu chapter. Balasubramaniam has even found a reference to the sacking of Nandipuram in Amir Khusrau's annals of Kafur's expedition.

It is remarkable that so many idols and sculptures have survived in the 700 year interregnum between now and the early 14th century when the city was abandoned. "But this is just the tip of the iceberg," says Balasubramaniam. "Every time the farmers plough their fields slightly deep they come up with some archaeological gem or the other." He has been frantically trying to get the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department to initiate an excavation to unearth at least major buildings like the royal palace of Nandivarman II and the Shiva temple, but to no avail. INTACH has published a book in Tamil written by Balasubramaniam on Nandipuram but that too has not led to any serious conservation effort. "There is also a conflict of interests between those who are supposed to safeguard our heritage and those whose livelihood depends on its trade," says Manna Srinivasan, who has been documenting the performing art traditions in the area for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Nagaswami, himself a former director of archaeology, is more biting in his comment: "Time has come when our monuments need to be saved from the so-called protection of the ASI."

Meanwhile Balasubramaniam is educating the local villagers on the historical and artistic importance of the relics. "Once they are sensitised to their real worth, at least they will not vandalise them nor allow outsiders from carting them away." Hopefully, ignorant villagers will prove better protectors of Nandivarman's legacy than the mandarins of the modern Indian state.

Senior Superintendent S.C. Srivastava feels that the officials "play the role of friend, philosopher and guide." This, of course, is not an easy task. Considering that most of the 65 jails in the state, including the five Central jails, are dens of vice and ruled by Mafia dons, reforming the inmates of the Karagar is a task that needs patience and skill. But the officials seem to possess these qualities in abundance. And their efforts have paid off -- for the prisoners clearly know that the jail is their passport to a new life.